Cartersville, Ga.—Patcraft, a leading provider of performance flooring solutions, has recognized Walnut Grove Elementary School in Bargersville, Ind., as one of its three “Schools of the Future” honorees for this year. Walnut Grove’s new school building incorporates high-performance Patcraft flooring in a state-of-the-art, boldly colorful design meant to nurture student pride and high achievement.
The annual program, which is a nationwide competition of K-12 or higher education institutions, has been designed to identify schools that are dedicated to transforming the performance of learning environments. Patcraft donates $1,000 to the recipients in an effort to spotlight and honor school facility transformations.
“Patcraft’s ‘Schools of the Future’ program acknowledges and supports schools that are committed to the design of educational spaces that elevate and impact performance and enhance learning potential,” said Kieren Corcoran, Patcraft director of performance markets. “We are proud to recognize Walnut Grove as a 2019 honoree.”
Brian Proctor, principal, added: “We were tasked with making this school energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and, most importantly, safe,” he said. The new school’s design incorporates many advanced safety features, including reinforced storm refuge areas built into stairwells and restrooms. “Walnut Grove’s design creates a learning environment that blends structure with the ability to adapt the space as needed. The mission of this team was to create a building that will serve the needs of both today’s students and future generations of students. We did a lot of research and pulled together teams of teachers and leaders in each area to provide input on designs for everything from classrooms to shared spaces to lunchrooms and traffic flow.”
Architects and interior designers at Lancer + Beebe, LLC, submitted details of the new school building’s innovative design for the contest. Lancer + Beebe architects and designers selected Patcraft carpet for a number of spaces for collaborative education, such as the school’s learning commons areas, as well as rooms designed for reading and solo study.
“For the school’s learning commons, we wanted carpet there to keep it acoustically quiet,” said architect Mark Beebe, one of the firm’s principal partners. “In the media center, we installed Patcraft carpet in colors and patterns that reflected nature, with colors inspired by wintertime, water and sky.”
Water and other natural elements are integral themes in the new school’s design, according to interior designer Misha Belyayev. “What we wanted was a flowing feeling in the carpet, so the pattern we selected has a shimmer underneath and a sense of flowing movement that you pick up as you move through the space,” he said. Carpet also provides a soft seating surface in spaces where students can collaborate on group projects, read or discuss their latest STEM project. “Kids are encouraged to sit on the floor and learn on the carpet, so it’s very comfortable.”